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Cyprus swears in its first ever Minister for Tourism

Small Mediterranean island country of Cyprus named former hotel executive Savvas Perdios its first ever Minister for Tourism on Wednesday. The creation of new official position and the former industry exec’s appointment is seen as effort develop and grow the island’s biggest and most important sector.

Cyprus’s new dedicated Ministry of Tourism was created to replace the Cyprus Tourism Organization (CTO), a 50-year-old entity, which oversaw the tourism sector until now.

There has been some skepticism that the new ministry will be more successful in facilitating faster and more flexible legislative power than that of its predecessor, with local Cyprus Mail’s editorial saying: “It is rather difficult to believe the ministry will be much faster in taking decisions, implementing policies and responding promptly to changing conditions in the tourism market,” with local Financial Mirror outlet echoing that “the trouble with the new Ministry of Tourism, is that it will suffer from the same constraints as with all the rest of the government machine, with the civil service mentality hampering any progress.”

Meanwhile, Cyprus’ President Nicos Anastasiades on Wednesday declared that he felt the creation of the new ministry is an important milestone for the sector. He said that he believes that it will pave the way for a new era of modernization, which is vital because tourism continues to increase annually on the island.

Cyprus depends heavily on tourism, with the industry now accounting for 22.3% of Cyprus’ gross domestic product, according to the latest report from the World Travel and Tourism Council.